1. Technical Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction peripheral device (MFP), etc., and more specifically, to a technique to collect dust produced in the image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
An image forming apparatus (e.g., a printer, a facsimile machine, an MFP, etc.), in which an image is formed in ink on a sheet of paper being a recording medium whilst the sheet of paper is conveyed in a conveying path in a chassis, is known. Such an image forming apparatus may include, for example, an inkjet printer with a recording head, which ejects ink from an ejecting surface toward the recording sheet. The inkjet printer may have a platen for holding the recording sheet from below in a position opposite from the ejecting surface of the recording head across the conveying path. When the recording sheet being conveyed passes over the platen, the recording sheet may be chafed by the platen, and dust may be produced by the friction between the recording sheet and the platen. An amount of the dust produced by the friction may tend to increase as a speed to convey the recording sheet increases. The increased amount of dust may float inside the inkjet printer and may, for example, adhere to the ejecting surface of the recording head and disturb behaviors of the ejected ink. For another example, the dust may stay in the conveying path to spoil or ruin the recording sheet being conveyed. Further, the dust may accumulate in the chassis to cause an operation error in the inkjet printer. Therefore, it is preferable that the dust created by the friction between the platen and the recording sheet is collected immediately after the creation before it drifts in the chassis.
Meanwhile, an inkjet printer having a mechanism to collect mist of ink has been suggested. Such an inkjet printer may be configured to have a plurality of inlets in the platen in positions opposite from the recording head and an aspirator fan to aspirate the ink mist through the inlets. The aspirated ink may be collected to be stored in an ink container.